Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's time. That is a great Labor phrase. It's time for this government to start governing in the nation's best interests and to cease serving its own. I sacrifice a lot to come into this place, like most of us who are parents, such as time with family. In fact, I missed a swimming carnival today for my two youngest children. I come in here to make lives better, and I am sad that the population are so fed up with politics and politicians. I can see how they arrive at this conclusion if I too am sick of these distractions.

Today, people who need real action, real help and a decent policy knocked on my door. Collectively, they are trying to get this government to recognise that their workplace, their livelihoods and their families are depending on a decent and thoughtful policy on energy and gas. They are highly skilled workers, producing 60 per cent of this country's glass. They are making ammonia for farmers. They are 50- to 65-year-olds performing their last working duties before retirement. They are making plastic, and they are keeping small towns like Port Kembla alive. Their employers need policy certainty and price certainty and a policy that supports their heavy use of energy and gas.

These men are members of the mighty AWU, the union of which I am proud to be a member. They aren't here for their own conditions. They aren't here for their own wages. They are here on behalf of their communities, their employers and their families, and they are seeking some focus from this weak Prime Minister, who would rather spend his days talking about leadership than doing it. On behalf of them, I ask this Prime Minister to deal with this as a matter of urgency.